Remaining Good
by Ogehsim
Summary: At the end of the Episode Stop Team Go, Shego remains good. Sharkin. ABANDONED
1. Remaining Good

As Team Go walked away, Shego turned to Kim Possible who said, "You know it was kinda nice, working on the same side again."

"Yeah..." She looked down kind of sheepishly. "But..." Kim looked at her worried. If Shego wanted to go evil again she could easily grab the helmet from Ron. "I don't think I want to be part of Team Go again."

"What do you mean?"

"Kim, listen to me. All I used to ever want was to be normal. I always had kids calling me 'Ghost Girl' because of my skin. And then my parents were killed, I got powers, and I had to drop out of school and become a superhero. You have Ron, and Monique, and cheerleading; I never got any of that. And just because I'm good now doesn't mean my brothers won't be as annoying as ever. I want to keep teaching and everything else."

"But without you Team Go will fall apart again," said Ron, who had been half listening to the conversation.

"I know, but maybe that's for the better. All of our enemies are in the Go City Jail, we never fought internationally; all we have to do is zap them with the helmet to turn them good, and then no more crime for Team Go to fight. Maybe we can zap Drakken too, so he doesn't come after me."

Kim turned to Ron, "You know what, that actually sounds like a good idea. With Drakken out of the picture we'll have more time for schoolwork and preparing for college."

Rufus jumped to Ron's shoulder and gave a thumb's up, "Uh-huh, uh-huh!"

"Um, yeah, can you excuse us for a moment Shego?" Ron pulled Kim over to the side, "KP, this is so weird. Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, I still haven't gotten over_ Shego_ being our teacher."

"Ron, it's fine. Shego's good now. We'll have to find her a place to live and stuff, but I think this is a great idea."

Ron shrugged, "Whatever you think KP."

They turned back to Shego, "How are you going to tell your brothers that you're quitting the team?" asked Kim. "Do you want us to tell them for you?"

"No, but it might help if you came along, that way they don't think I'm rejoining Drakken..." She trailed off as a familiar hovercar appeared.

"Shego!" yelled Drakken. Although Shego was good, she still had the reflexes developed as a villain; she grabbed the helmet from Ron and aimed it at Drakken, enveloping Dr. D in a blue light. When the light disappeared, the hovercar landed and Drakken hopped out, "Shego, there you are. I've been so worried!"

"Hey Dr. D," said Shego, seeming not to mind the crushing hug he gave her, "What do you say to giving up the lair and settling in Middleton? Kimmie's going to help me find someplace to live, I'm sure she could help you too."

"Wait, you're not..."

"Not evil? Nope, not anymore. One of the villains of Team Go changed the attitudinator a bit and turned me good."

"Oh, what about your brothers?"

"What about them? I'm going to quit Team Go, and take a teaching job at Kim's school."

Kim turned to Ron, "You think you can handle Drakken, Ron?" At this, Rufus once again reappeared from Ron's pocket and ran over to the now normal-skin-toned Drakken.

"Hey it's my little mole rat buddy," said the now normal skin-color Drakken, "What have you been up to?"

"Nut'in' much," squeaked Rufus, giving Drakken a thumb's up.

"You know what, maybe this will turn out alright," said Ron.

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A/N: Yeah, this is the product of 1) seeing the Stop Team Go episode 2) my first boyfriend kissing me for the first time and 3) the fact that I have always liked Shego+Barkin pairings, which is what this will eventually evolve into. I have a few more chapters (7 of 'em) started on, but they're kinda short. Anyway, please, please review and tell me what I'm doing wrong and if you want me to continue. I'm not a very good writer so any suggestions would be most appreciated. Oh, and disclaimer for this and the rest of the chapters. Characters ain't mine so don't sue me, and all that jazz.


	2. Drakken & Barkin

That night, at Kim's house:

"We don't have another guest room, so you'll have to sleep on the couch for tonight, Drakken."

"That's quite alright, Kimberly." Kim struggled to keep her expression normal - Shego and Drakken in her house, and now Drakken was calling her Kimberly. She had adapted to Shego, but now it looked like she would have to adapt all over again.

They had just finished eating dinner, and now they four, Ron, Kim, Shego, and Drakken, were watching TV. Then the doorbell rang. "Oh, no. It's Stevie," moaned Shego.

"Stevie?" said Drakken, completely confused.

"Mr. Barkin," explained Kim, "he's dating Shego."

"Wait, Shego's dating..."

Shego listened to this as she walked to the door and opened it. "Hello Steve," she said. He handed her a small bouquet of flowers. "Oh, these are so beautiful. Thank you."

Mr. Barkin blushed. "Are you ready to go?" he asked. He was taking her rollerskating.

But before Shego could answer Kim came up. "Shego, you can't go rollerskating. Not with your ankle, what if you hurt it more?"

"Ankle?" asked Steve.

Shego looked slightly embarrassed. "Yeah, had a little accident today." She pulled on her pant leg enough to show her ankle wrapped in an ace bandage. "But I'm fine, really. It's nothing I can't handle." She had sprained her ankle during the fight with her brothers and Electronique. She was disappointed in herself because it hadn't even been a difficult fight, far easier than her ones with Kimmie, and yet she had gotten injured. Of course, she couldn't tell Stevie that, now yet anyway. She didn't want to have to explain about her brothers and her powers.

"Maybe rollerskating isn't such a good idea," said Barkin, "You know what, we'll save that for another night. How about I surprise you tonight?" So it was agreed, and Shego left and Kim returned to the living room, where Drakken was still trying to get his head around the concept of Shego dating.

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A/N: And so enters Barkin. I realize this is a short chapter. Mis apologies. Anyway, help me and my poor pathetic little brain out and leave some reviews for my sanity, ego, and quality of writing (of course) ;)


	3. Teacher Lounge Discussions

It was a week later, and Shego was walking in the hallways of MHS. "Shego!" It was Steve. They headed towards the teacher's lounge, laughing about some of the, um, _creative _answers that kids had put on tests. He would've liked to hold her hand, like he had a few nights ago, but she was holding a small assortment of papers and notebooks. They entered the teacher's lounge, which was empty except for them. As Shego set down her papers Mr. Barkin poured himself a cup of coffee. As soon as he took a sip, he made a face and spit it back into the cup. "Uh! Cold again! That's the third time this week."

"Oh, I'm sure it's not that bad," said Shego smiling at him. She went to the coffee pot, using her body to block it from his view. "Oh, did I tell you? I think I've finally found a house. I put in an offer. Hopefully I'll be able to move out of Kimmie's guest room soon." As she talked, one of her hands lit up and she used it to warm the coffee.

"That's great!" said Barkin. "Where's the house?"

Shego poured two cups of coffee and mixed some packets of stuff into each. "Lyndell Avenue. Number... fourteen I think." She handed him one of the cups of coffee. "Here, drink it."

He hesitantly took a sip. Then looked at her in astonishment, "It's warm. And it tastes good. How on Earth?"

She smiled, "I have my ways."

"Astonishing." He took a longer sip. "14 Lyndell, did you say?" She nodded. "Hey, that's only half a block over from my place." Shego tried to remember where Steve lived. Lyndell, then Ash St, then Bricton. Yup, they were practically in each other's back yards... if she got the house. She came over and sat on the table next to where he was standing, sipping her own coffee. "Hey, how's that Drakken guy?" asked Barkin.

"Oh, he's alright. Rufus, and Ron, found him an apartment yesterday. He's supposed to be moving in today, and he gets to start his job tomorrow."

"What does he do again?"

"He's an inventor. Robotics, and other stuff like that. Some medical equipment as well. That's how he got that scar under his eye, you know. One of his creation's blew up or something when the circuits got overloaded." She noticed that Steve's arm had slipped around her waist, not really holding her, but pleasantly resting there.

"Sounds quite fascinating I suppose. How do you know him again?"

"Oh, I worked with him a bit. Kind of like his sidekick I suppose." Shego blushed slightly when she said that, conscious of how she wasn't telling the whole truth. She turned away so he wouldn't see the blush that stood out so prominently on her pale skin.

"Oh, I see. Do you enjoy that kind of stuff?"

"I don't know. The money was good."

"And now you've become a teacher. Bit of a drop isn't it?" Said Barkin cheerfully.

"I suppose," said Shego, resting her head ever so slightly on his shoulder, "Although this job seems to have it's perks." Barkin laughed as he clearly understood her meaning. Then she sighed and slipped off the table. "Well, I should go and get ready for my class next period."

"Yeah," agreed Steve. "Hey, are you busy Friday night?" he added quickly.

"No, I don't think so," said Shego smiling.

"Well, would you mind if we did something together? I'd pick you up at 7...?"

"Sounds good. Well, I have to go," and she slipped out of the small room.

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I got chapter 3 up. Wo0t! Anyway, thank you _so much _to those of you who haved reviewed so far. You people rock! Keep them coming in please, and get that warm fuzzy feeling inside knowing you have helped out a poor pathetic little teenager to know that her writing does not completely suck. Oh, and if any of you males out there want to help me out with Barkin's POV on all this; I've never been able to understand the male mind when it comes to girls, send me a personal message, I think you can get to it somewhere in my profile... Anyway, I'll hopefully get chapter 4 up today(tonight) or tomorrow...


	4. Confessing the Past

That Friday night, after a very satisfying evening consisting of a dinner and a movie, Shego and Steve had decided to stop by his house for awhile. Shego wanted to have a little bit more time away from Kim's house, and both were completely in favor to spending more time with each other. The TV was on, with the volume bordering on the low side. Shego leaned against Steve, and he had his arm around her shoulders. Both were completely content with their lives at this moment.

However, as it hit the hour, the TV program ended and a new one started. In their comfortable drowsiness, neither noticed until a picture of Team Go appeared on screen. "...Team Go fell apart when their sister Shego left, 5 years ago. Since then Go City has heard little about them other than a fight with the villain Aviarious 8 months ago, and the incident that happened a week ago. The police have now released details and it appears that a villainess named Electronique invented some kind of weapon that reversed the brain waves of Team Go turning them evil. They were stopped by teen hero Kim Possible, her sidekick Ron Stoppable, and their renegade sister Shego." A picture of Shego, Kim, and Ron, standing at the warehouse where they had fought Electronique appeared on screen. However, it must have been taken by an amateur because it was blurry and slightly out of focus.

"So that's where Kim Possible ran off to last week," said Barkin. "Seems like she knows another Shego, or..." he trailed off as he looked at Shego who refused to look him in the eye. He had felt her tense up as he spoke, and she hugged her arms close to her chest. He knew what the answer most likely was, but he had to ask, "Shego are you..." He tried to figure out how to phrase it, "Are you related to Team Go?" Shego nodded. "Oh." After a moment he asked, "What's so bad about that?"

"I quit." She said in a small voice.

"What?" He didn't quite understand.

"I quit the team. I left Team Go. You heard the TV, the team fell apart because I left."

"Why did you quit?" He asked. He didn't care if she was on the team or if she had quit. All he knew was that something was wrong, and something was upsetting her, and all he wanted was to help her. Never before had he believed that someone so... beautiful, would ever pay attention to him, but Shego returned his attention and seemed to truly seem to reciprocate his feelings.

Shego sighed. Should she tell him? What if... what if he didn't want to see her anymore? How could you love, or even like, someone who had once tried to achieve world domination? But, he deserved to a least be given a chance... "My brothers drove me insane. I left. I ran out of money. I turned to crime. I was good at it. I worked for Dr. Drakken. Tried to take over the world. Kim Possible beat us every time. Electronique switched personalities. Brothers turned evil. Kim and I turned them back, but I'm still good." All this was said at a ferociously fast pace.

"You tried to take over the world?"

Shego nodded sadly, but the delivery of her speech was still incredibly rapid, "Mm-hmm. But Dr. Drakken's plans always failed. Kim Possible always came and managed to cause the lair to self-destruct or something. It was my job to fight her - I'm a master at 38 styles of martial arts - but she always managed to thwart Dr. D's plans. The one time we succeeded is when we stole this monkey idol that allowed you to travel through time and I enslaved the villains and I took over the world and was known as The Supreme One. Kim doesn't know I remember that, the times stream was destroyed when Ron broke the idol, but the Supreme One had superior technology, she escaped with some of her memories." She looked down at the floor.

"38 styles? You enslaved the villains? The Supreme One? Dr. D?" He was having trouble believing any of this.

"I told you, I used to be evil. Kim has a picture of my prison photo in her locker. Still." She had seen it. Right next to the ones of her and Kim joking around in the photo booth. "I understand if you don't want to..." she waved her hand around gesturing as if to indicate the entire room, "...anymore." She knew what his answer would be. She was a freak. Had always been a freak. Her life had been far too perfect this past week. Of course it had to end.

"Why would I want to do that?" He asked softly. Shego looked at him, and he could see that her eyes had already begun to tear up from the anticipated answer. He took her hands in his own and held them tightly. "So you've made a few mistakes in the past. We've all done that. But look at what good you're doing now. And you know what? I love you, Shego, and nothing will change that." A tear began to trickle down each of her cheeks, but they were out of happiness and love. And gently Barkin leaned forward and gave her a small kiss on the lips.

As he broke off the short kiss Shego threw her arms around him and buried her face into his chest, although she wasn't crying any longer. (She had always had an aversion to crying that still stuck with her.) On this side of his reply she wondered how she could have doubted him. Kim, the one whom she had beat up time after time, had become her friend, why wouldn't other people accept her as well? Steve returned the hug, holding her and resting his chin gently on the top of her head. Who said romance was just for crazy teenagers?

Eventually Shego pulled away, and she had that little smile on her face that he loved so much. He didn't want to ruin it, but he had to ask, "So, does this mean you have superpowers?" But Shego didn't mind anymore and she willingly lit up her hands and showed Barkin, still smiling. "What can you do with those?" He asked amazed. (He was slightly afraid too, but he would never admit that, even too himself. But, I mean, how many times do you see someone's hands light on fire?)

"Mmm, a lot of things. They're kind of like a swiss army knife. I can vaporize glass, bust through titanium, steel, concrete... shoot it long distance, burn things, heat things, just use it as a power enhancer... supposedly I can create a shockwave too, but I've never dared to try that."

"It doesn't burn you?"

She shook her head and grinned, "Nope, otherwise I'd be in a lot of trouble right now." They both laughed, and the glow disappeared and they settled down again to watch a movie that was playing on another channel.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Shego got home late that night. Barkin dropped her off in front of Kim's house and she gave him a small kiss on the cheek goodnight. As he drove away she walked to the door. Before she even touched the doorknob, the door swung open. "Shego!" hissed Kim. "Do you know how late it is?!"

"Aw, thanks Kimmie for waiting up for me. But I'm a grown adult, and you need your sleep."

"Shego, you're living in my house now. Until you get your own, you have to obey the same curfew laws as me. Which means home at 10, unless it's a special occasion, and then it's extended to 11."

"I'm sorry, Kim. I was having such a nice time with Stevie," Kim shuddered at that nickname, "that I lost track of what time it was. Can't you pardon a first time infraction?"

"Fine," grumbled Kim, suddenly understanding how her parents felt, "Just this once. Go on up to bed. I'll lock up the house."

"Thanks, Kimmie. You're the best," Shego hugged Kim and then went upstairs.

"This is just so messed up," said Kim as she locked the door and turned out the lights. Then she shuddered again, "Why _Stevie_?"

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A/N: Thank you SO much for all the wonderful reviews and suggestions. You people are so awesome; if I figure out how to teleport brownies I'll send you all some. ;) Now that I've got the S/B going, I'll try to focus some more on Shego at school, with Kim, etc. Keep sending me ideas, because I'm starting to hit a wall. Keep the reviews coming:)


	5. Sparring

It was the next Monday, just about two weeks after Shego had first begun teaching. She had gotten up early, so that she could leave the house before the rest of the Possibles woke; a decision that she had made when somehow rocket fuel had ended up in the milk jug and then into the cereal a few days earlier. She pocketed a muffin, and grabbed her over-the-shoulder bag that held her notes and papers, and slipped outside. It was early enough that the sun hadn't even risen yet, a faint glow on the horizon where it would eventually make its appearance.

The school was open, the only cars were the rusty truck of the head janitor, and two belonging to the, um... different, science teachers. Shego ate her muffin and coffee while grading papers. It was nice being here in the morning, when it was quiet and most of the classrooms were still dark. However, soon other teachers began to trickle in, and then the earlier students, and then they began to arrive in busloads. Barkin stopped by to give her a memo the office had sent out, and told her that he had to leave for the three days for some teachers conference, "Blasted conferences, they always put you up in a two star hotel. Trying to save money I suppose, but the buffet always leaves something to be desired... Like the time when the eggs stood up and-" he shuddered, "Different story for a different time." Before he left, Shego stood a bit on her toes, and gave him a small kiss on the cheek that left them both with small smiles on their faces.

Outside the door to room 802 Bonnie watched Barkin leave the room with a look of disgust on her face, "Look at that Kim. And you're friends with her! Trying to get a few points on that history test are we?"

"Bonnie, Shego's my friend," said Kim annoyed.

"Her name is Shego? But isn't her last name Go? What, would that make her 'Shego Go'? Freak." Bonnie tossed her hair with a smug look of superiority on her face. "Of course, you would be friends with a freak, wouldn't you, Kim? You've already got a loser and a nerd, this just completes the set." Before Kim could retort two other girls called to Bonnie, "Oh, love to stay and chat Kim, but I actually have cool people to talk to, unlike you," and she walked away, leaving Kim growling in frustration.

"Bon-bon's off her groove today," said Ron, coming up behind Kim, "Normally her insults have a bit more..." he struggled for the word, but then gave up as Rufus found a remainder of a naco in his locker. "Booyah!" he and Rufus tore into the cheesy, fatty, greasy goodness.

"I just don't want her to give Shego any trouble. The last thing we need is some kind of reaction that'll break the attitudinator's effects."

"I wouldn't worry KP," said Ron through a mouthful of cheese and meat, "Bon-bon's just an annoying little fly. No big."

"He's right, Kim," said Wade appearing on the computer, "The attitudinator wipes people's minds of all evil thoughts and starts them off fresh. You can't trigger a sudden reversal. However, people constantly change due to experiences and interactions- like how they say a child is a product of its raising- and the person could possibly go back to evil, but it would take a lot of time for them to develop that mind frame, so I don't think there's much worry."

"Ah! Psychology!" screamed Ron, "Not that mumbo-jumbo please!" Rufus dived into his pocket squeaking, "Please no!"

Wade looked perplexed, "Bad memories?"

"Therapy about a garden gnome..." explained Kim with a look that was half amused, half pitying. "Beep me if anything comes up."

"Can do."

She closed the locker door and turned to Ron who was still muttering incoherently, and she picked up his books and started pulling him towards homeroom.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWM

It was the end of the school day and Shego was packing up her grading notebook and a pile of papers, listening to the sounds of teens trying to remember their assignments and get to the buses on time. She sifted through the pile of papers separating them out into neat piles of the two different assignments. In the middle of the stack there was a piece of paper, obviously torn from a notebook. In pen were written the words "No One Wants a Ghost Freak for a Teacher" and a crudely drawn sketch of a ghost with an arrow pointing to it, labelling the ghost as "Mis" Go.

Shego stared at the childish insult, not knowing whether to be angry, surprised, annoyed, or indifferent. However it brought up memories of even before the meteor hit. She had always had china white skin, but in kindergarten and such, children are more accepting of differences. However, over the years, they had begun to ignore her, taking their cues from their parents. Slowly, she had found herself without the little group of a friend or two that everyone else had, and finally the comments of "Ghost Girl" and "Vampire Freak" and "Dough Girl" had begun...

She was shaken from these unpleasant memories as Kim ran into the room. "Shego! Cheerleading was cancelled today, so the gym's free. Do you think you could spar a bit with me? I really need the practice."

Shego was going to say no, she didn't like rough-housing, and what if she hurt Kim by accident? However, Kim, sensing the woman's hesitance, pulled a truly magnificent puppy dog pout. "No, not the face!" said Shego in mock horror, but she was laughing too much for it to be convincing, "Very well, I'll spar with you."

"Great, I'll meet you in the gym in 10 minutes, okay?" Shego nodded and Kim ran out of the room, calling over her shoulder, "Thanks, you're the best!" Shego watched the teen run out, then turned back to the drawing, and stuffed it to the bottom of her bag.

Shego waited nervously in the gym, tugging absentmindedly on her sleeve. She had gone through the gym's lost and found and found black capri yoga pants, a green t-shirt and warm-up jacket, and sneakers. Even though she wasn't evil, black and green were still her favorite colors. Where was Kim? She had said ten minutes, and it had been 17 minutes and 32 seconds, 33, 34, 35... Kim burst into the gym, dropping her backpack heavily onto the floor. "Sorry I'm late, the science club had set up this experiment in the hall and..." she trailed off, panting slightly. "Nice, the mats are still out from the P.E. classes today; the boys were wrestling," she explained. "So you ready?"

"I guess..." said Shego hesitantly.

"Oh come on, Shego. It's fine." However, Shego was still hesitant, so Kim sent an easy attack at her, which Shego easily avoided. Between friendly taunts and jibes, and some easy attacks, Kim slowly got Shego to go on to the offensive. Their pace sped up to the point where they were doing they same dance that they had done when they were on opposite sides of the law, minus the green flames. Shego landed a blow to Kim's stomach, a solid kick, not hard enough to bruise or hurt, but enough to knock the wind out of the teen who stumbled and sat on the ground. Shego immediately stopped, looking shocked. But Kim merely started laughing a bit until Shego laughed in relief. She helped Kim up, and they once again began their dance.

As they were fighting, a few teens, who for one reason or another had remained after school, saw the two females fighting. They stopped to watch, and of course others came to see what they were looking at, until a small, but still decent sized, crowd had gathered around the gymnasium doors.

Shego had grown more confident about sparring. Sparring with Kim wasn't "rough-housing", it was a dance, an art. She had Kim had both landed several blows, nothing serious, but they each might have a bruise or two, which was only to be expected. They were both using their "fight" to test the other, because as often as they had fought in the past, most of their fights had never been very long, and they hadn't been able to see the others full range of fighting skills. And so, in the spirit of this, both had been obliged to change up their normal fighting habits, and utilize some of their less-used styles of martial arts. This constant switching of styles kept both of them on their toes, and it was exhilarating. The fight was fun, it was enjoyable, to engage another so highly skilled in friendly combat was an honor. Both of them had smiles on their faces and were laughing as they dodged blows.

Kim gave out first; she was used to shorter fights, whereas Shego had spent long days of boredom with nothing to do but train. Kim flopped heavily on to the ground calling, "I surrender, I surrender. You win, O Mighty One," as she waved her arm like a flag. Shego flopped down besides her, grinning as well.

As they laid there panting, a stern voice suddenly cut through their thoughts, demanding, "What is the meaning of this?"

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Author's Note: Yay, I finally got chapter 5 up! (I hate preparing for finals.) Thank you people so much for your ever so helpful comments. Please keep them coming, because I'm still trying to decide what direction this should go in. Once the parts for my teleporter come in, I will send all of you reviewers some fudge. (Trust me, I make good fudge.) 'Kay:) Sorry I didn't go into much detail of their sparring, but I'm not very good at writing fight scenes... have to work on that. And just to drive it into your skulls: Leave reviews (even if they're flames!)


	6. So Not a Good Day

Barkin was standing there, his face grim and stern, his arms crossed. The two females sat up and gaped at him. "That wasn't rhetorical people. You should know better Miss Possible. I believe that brawling is against school rules."

"Mr. Barkin, we weren't... 'brawling'. I asked Shego to help me train because I needed help with my martial arts. Cheerleading was cancelled today and I wanted to get some exercise in. I can't save the world if I'm out of shape and out of practice... Sir."

"And you," he turned on Shego, "You were given Employee of the Month for a mere week's subbing, and now I find you engaged in rough-housing with a student?! Shameful and despicable. If Mrs. Langwow were here, you'd," he pointed to Possible, "have detention, and Miss Go would have her pay docked."

By now the two were standing, Shego looking remorseful, Kim looking annoyed but trying to hide it. "We're very sorry, sir," oh, Kim could brown nose shamelessly when she felt like it, "And we both apologize. It won't happen again, I promise. And if you feel that some punishment is in order, I ask that you don't punish Miss Go as she is new and cannot be expected to be fully acquainted with all of the rules... Sir."

Barkin's eye gave an unconscious twitch and Kim wondered if he was about to blow up at them both, which was weird considering that he was dating Shego, and here he was, looking like he would have no regrets in slapping them both in ISS for a few weeks. "Fine, I will ignore this offense,_ for now_. However, if it happens again..." he trailed off menacingly. Shego and Kim shook their heads in violent agreement. Then he whirled on the students who were still hovering by the gymnasium doors, "Move it people, this is a school not a circus!" They fled. Barkin gave them one last glare before stalking out of the gym.

Kim turned to Shego, still full of indignation at Barkin. However, Shego apparently did not share the teen's emotions. The older woman looked like she was about to start crying. "Shego, what's wrong?" she asked, as if anyone with half a brain couldn't figure it out.

But to her surprise, Shego only shook her head a little and muttered, "Nothing, nothing. I'm fine."

Ron came flying into the room, "KP, that was the most badical fight ever. A-Booyah!" Rufus was chattering away in ecstatic agreement. "And that thing with Barkin! Oh man, that killed me!" Rufus started doing a Barkin impersonation.

"Ron, be serious. I think I just got them two of them into a major argument- and it's my fault. I asked Shego to spar with me, she didn't even want to." She turned to Shego, as if to apologize, but Shego had slipped away, unnoticed by the three of them.

"Eh, they'll be fine," said Ron, unconcerned. "I mean, it had to happen sometime. Afterall, everybody fights at least once... even us."

"I suppose... So... Bueno Nacho, boyfriend?"

"You know it!" And Kim gave him a peck on the cheek and they walked out of the gym holding hands.

MWMWMMWMWMWMWMMWMWMWMMW

_Not a good day. _

Shego was not happy. She had ran after Barkin, trying to find him, to apologize, or something, anything. But he was gone. He wasn't in the hallway, in the office, or in the teacher's lounge. She had run outside in hopes of catching him in the parking lot, but his car was gone, the parking space long deserted. Most of the parking lot was deserted as most after-school activities had already ended. She felt like she wanted to cry, but it wouldn't do to break down here, not where any of the faculty might happen upon her. So she merely sighed and trudged back inside to retrieve her belongings and then began to walk home. No, not home, not her home, _Kimmie's_ home.

She went in furtively, not really in the mood to talk with anyone, sneaking up to the guest room. She closed the door and collapsed on the bed, spreading her arms wide and staring at the ceiling. But she couldn't stand doing nothing but lie there wallowing in her misery, so she sat up and found the cheap discount hairbrush she had bought at Smarty Mart, and took out her headband. As she brushed it, the hair was released from its headband-and-hair-gel induced confinement, once again springing back to its long and wavy form. She kept brushing it, over and over and over...

KNOCK KNOCK

Shego was startled from her trance, dropping the hairbrush on her toes. "Ow, that smarts," she muttered wincing.

"Shego?" called Mrs. Dr. Possible, "There's some mail for you." Shego came and opened the door, still wincing slightly. "Here you go... Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Mrs. Possible. I just dropped my hairbrush on my toe by accident. It's nothing."

"Okay, and really, Shego. I've told you before, call me Ann," She smiled at the young woman. Kim had filled her in on Shego, and the villainess's past, what little Kim knew, and quite frankly, Ann felt a little sorry for Shego.

"Alright, Ann. And thanks for bringing up my mail."

"Really it's no problem, you're almost one of the family now."

_Maybe not such a bad day afterall._

Shego flopped on to her bed, and lay on her stomach to open the envelopes. There were two. The first was a letter from her brothers, just a little note, telling her what was going on in Go City, and a little scrawl from Mego reminding her that his birthday was coming up in a mere 5 weeks. She laughed a bit and rolled her eyes, more amused than annoyed.

The other envelope made her nervous, it bore the ensignia of the real estate company that was selling the house she had put an offer on. She pulled out the necklace that had been tucked under her shirt, the necklace she had worn since she was five, and held it tightly for a moment for luck, before she dared to open the envelope.

_Not a good day._

She had been turned down.

Well only one thing to do for it now. She changed into slacks and comfortable shoes and went out walking. She really missed the hover car. It was a long walk, a very long walk, but soon she arrived in downtown Middleton. And so began her quest for an apartment she could afford while on such a limited budget.

_SO not a good day._

Shego was tired. Who knew apartments were so expensive? She knew she had missed dinner so she grabbed one of those pre-packaged dinners at Smarty Mart and used her plasma powers to warm it up to something slightly edible and ate it while sitting on a bench in the abandoned park.

Well, she needed to go back to the Possible's house, she had papers to grade. There were three more buildings she hadn't gone to, she could hit those tomorrow after school. She sighed. Starting over was harder than she thought it would. At least Kim's friend Wade had briefed GJ so that she could walk freely on the streets... although that wouldn't help her in a few other countries, say 11 of them. That would cut down on any travelling she could do... if she ever got the money to travel.

When she returned to Kim's house she opened the door, and immediately had to duck to avoid being beheaded by a rocket. "Sorry Miss Go!" chimed the twins.

"It's okay guys, but I would stop it before it crashes into Mrs. Winston's house." She watched them run after the escaping projectile and chuckled a bit. They really were very nice boys.

"Shego, where've you been?" asked Ann as she came out of the living room. "Kim said you ran out on them earlier today, if everything alright?"

"It's fine. I've just been out searching for an apartment, my offer on the house was turned down." She tried to smile, to convince Ann that she was alright.

But she must not have hid her disappointment well enough, because Ann gave her a calculating glance, but only said, "That's too bad. It was such a cute house too. Well, if you need any help searching just let us know."

"Of course. I'm sorry for taking up your guest room for so long."

"Nonsense, I told you before. You're like family now, you take as long as you need to find a place." Shego gave her a grateful smile, then headed for the privacy of her borrowed room.

MWMWMWMMWMWMWMWMWMWMWM

That night the Possible's were all playing some rip-roaring board game in the living room. They had asked Shego to play, several times, no, many times, but she had barricaded herself in the dimly lit breakfast nook to grade papers. It was long and boring, and when she got to the point where even her fourth cup of extra-chocolately cocoa-moo didn't help her at all, she headed to bed, listening to the echoes of the family's laughter.

As she got ready for bed she thought back to her family. She had been what, seven when she had gotten her powers? That was when the comet had struck the treehouse.

**"Hey, Richard. What's that glowing thing? You see it? Way over there."**

**"Rachel, stop trying to get out of your math homework. Now, what's 3 times 4?"**

Why had the comet struck _their_ treehouse? Why not in some abandoned field in Pennsylvania?

"**It's heading for us! Chris, it's going to hit us!"**

**"Get out! Get out now! Come on, move it!"**

**"The twins! The twins are still up there! Johnny, Michael, hang on! Don't climb down by yourselves!"**

**..."What are you kids yelling about?"**

Their parents had been killed. The comet had shattered the treehouse, and the tree. The splinters had been over a foot long, and sharp. Their parents had come outside to see what they were yelling about.

**There was a sickening crunch, then she was falling, falling... She sat up, her head hurting. She couldn't move, the space was too small. She was surrounded by tree limbs and pieces of wood, a bunch of leaves dangling in her face. Panic filling her, her hands tearing away frantically at the wood. Crying, screaming... why would no one answer?**

**Finally she was free, stumbling over the smaller splinters that surrounded the remains of their treehouse.**

**"Rachel! Rachel, there you are. Where are Johnny and Michael? Are you..."**

**She lifted her face to him. Her face bloody, covered with blood, painted with blood, stained with the blood of her mother whose chest she had been sobbing into.**

They had gotten their powers, but they had to keep them secret. None of them wanted scientists using them as lab rats and breaking up the family; the twins hadn't even been two when the incident had happened.

They had lived with some distantly related aunt in Go City, but it never really seemed like she had taken care of them. It had just been the five of them, taking care of each other. As soon as he was old enough, Richard had gotten a job, but he was always talking about how the should use their powers to help for the good of humanity. She had been forced to steal his money so he didn't blow it all on comic books.

Even though two of her brothers were older than her, she had been forced to take care of them all; manage the money, make sure they had new school clothes, pay for the twins' daycare, she had been forced to cook when a certain aunt was unexpectedly staying late at work. Maybe it was a good thing she had never had many friends, she never had any time for them.

She had missed her parents dreadfully. Now she had to be the mother, her brothers weren't much help. When she had to comfort the twins when they woke up screaming from nightmares and she had held them close, comforting them, she had wondered: _I'm __living__ in a nightmare! Why won't anyone comfort __me?_

She curled up in her bed, trying to force the painful memories out of her head, trying to force the images of a crudely drawn ghost, and Barkin's angry face out of her head...

_So not a good day. Not a good day at all._

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Author's Note: So here's chapter 6. Poor Shego, right? I didn't mean to make it this depressing, but I just got into one of those little writing grooves and this is what came out. Fell free to flame me if you think it deserves it. Anyway, thank you all you people who have favorited this, and put it on your alert list, and spent the time to review it. You people rock. Well, 10 more days of school, then maybe the updates will come a little faster. So leave a review and let me know what you think. See it? Right there, that little button on the bottom left that says leave a review. Click it. Go ahead. Really. It's right there, just begging to be clicked...


	7. Waffles, tickets, and apartments

Shego woke up early the next morning, earlier than she normally did. Ugh, 3:37? She tried to go back to sleep, but apparently Sandman didn't make house calls this late... or early. Eventually she gave up on her efforts, pulled herself out of bed, did some stretches that made the blood start to move a bit and cancelled the worse of the remaining lethargy, then pulled out some clothes: basic capris and a nice 3/4 sleeved shirt; casual, but still formal enough to be acceptable as teacher's wear.

She carefully went downstairs. She loved it when the house was dark and silent with nobody else around. She gathered up her bag and paper from where she had left them the previous night, and looked around to see if she had missed anything. Something on the table of the breakfast nook caught her attention. She picked up the piece of paper and read the brief message. Ann had made her breakfast, kept warm in the state of the art oven during the night. Why would she do that? wondered Shego. Does she feel sorry for me? But she figured that sounded too much like the old bitter Shego, and decided that she was reading too much into Ann's actions and that it was merely a kind favor for a friend. It wasn't a fancy breakfast, but by gosh, they were the best Belgian waffles Shego had ever eaten in her life. Of course, they would've been better with coffee, but you can't always have everything. Especially not at 4 AM.

It was far, far too early still for the school to be open, but without anything else to do, Shego decided that she might as well begin the walk, but take a more scenic route. Middleton was a safe neighborhood, and besides, if it came down to it, Shego could take care of herself. As her feet wandered where they pleased with only her subconscious to keep them on the shadowed sidewalk, her mind began to drift as one is wont to do in such a situation. Her thoughts drifted to Barkin. He had seemed so unlike himself the day before. Yes, he could be strict, and yes, she knew that he would never exempt her from the rules, but to blow up at Kim and her like that... He knew of Kim's missions, he had even become involved in some of them. She remembered glimpsing him once or twice before. So why had he become so hostile to them sparring?

It was a futile thinking activity. She would have to talk to him at school today. No, she couldn't; he was gone for that conference thing. Darn them, why couldn't it be over the weekend like everything else? Why'd he have to leave in the middle of the week? And the worst part of it was that he had left her no phone number, and he didn't carry a cell phone with him. She'd have to wait until Friday afternoon, or evening, to talk to him. That was far too long, especially if he was mad at her. She knew how badly resentment, anger, and misunderstandings could grow if left for too long. She could only hope that the conference would go well so that Stevie would be in a good mood when he returned.

Her feet carried to one of those "open late" places, although "opens early" would've been more appropriate. It was one of those places that caters to the very early morning crowd who for some reason went to work at these ungodly hours, and to the late night crowd who were heading home to crash. It served basic stuff, a few dinner things, a few breakfast things, nothing special or fancy. Occasionally the food would be cold, or soggy, or overcooked, but for the most part the it was warm, the portions decent, and it would be filling enough to pull you through to a late lunch. Shego went inside, viewing the small crowd of over-achiever businessmen, late-night-shift teenagers, and various other people, without much interest. She threw the person at the cash register a few bills, took the cardboard cup, and poured a large cup of hot chocolate and mixed it with a shot of espresso.

After this she began wandering again, sipping the warm beverage. Maybe she would go see Drakken today. She missed the blue, well not blue anymore, guy. After working with him for a few years they had gotten to know each other's quirks pretty well. Talking with him would be nice, something constant during this whole period of transition. And of course she needed to look at apartments again today. She sighed. Well, no one had said life was going to be easy. She straightened her shoulders; growing up taking care of her family, being a hero, being a villain, she had made it through all of that, she could certainly handle this. She could handle Barkin. She could handle house hunting. She could handle sparring, and ghost pictures, and rocket fuel in the cereal.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWM

She had left her stuff on the desk when she had gone to make copies of a worksheet, and when she had returned, there had been another ghost drawing staring up at her. However, she merely folded it neatly into quarters and buried it in her bag, her good mood from the early morning still clinging to her.

At lunch she was picking at her salad while grading the seemingly endless pile of papers. She had quickly learned to bring her lunch; the cafeteria served teachers a bit better than they did students, but not by much. (Teachers only got a grey, slimy blob, whereas students would get a grey, slimy blob that up and crawled off their trays.) While she went through the tedious task her mind went to Ron and Kim who she had seen a few periods earlier. Now, she wasn't the best with people skills, but she could tell that something was up between the two teens. Ron had seemed quiet and reserved. And all during class he kept staring at Kim... Longingly? Of course the teen had been oblivious to his attention.

Now that she thought about it, Ron had seemed kind of on edge for awhile now. He became frustrated easier, and didn't spend as much time as he used to with Kim. Maybe that was because she and Kim had been hanging out so much recently. It had been nice for her to have someone to hang out with. She had already known Kim, even if they had previously been enemies, and so she had drifted to Kim. Shego would be the first to admit, she was inherently shy. She had managed to cover this up well by being impatient, demanding, and sarcastic, but here in Middleton the childhood shyness came back with a vengeance.

However, she knew that the activities she and Kim did together, Ron had no interest in. He liked wrestling, Bueno Nacho, and videogames. She and Kim had been going to chick flicks, spas, and shopping sprees. She was cutting into their quality bf/gf time, but he didn't want to say anything about it, she realized. Ron was devoted to Kim, so if she was having a good time with Shego and blowing him off, he would let her and not complain, but he was disappointed. That's what his problem was. Well, that would end. As much as she enjoyed doing things with Kim, she needed to be more independent anyway, and Ron needed his KP time.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

"Hey, Shego! You ready to go to the mall yet? Club Banana is having a sale, and Monique told me they have the cutest t-shirts discounted."

"No thanks Kimmie, I can't today. I'm going house hunting today."

"Oh, well, do you want me to come with you?"

"Trust me, you don't want to. It's really quite boring. Why don't you do something with Ron today? You two haven't had any you time in absolute ages."

Kim suddenly looked guilty. "I know... but Ron understands. Really, if you need me to come..." That was Kim, always feeling like she had to help; even when help wasn't needed.

"Sweetie, I can take care of this. I'm a grown adult you know. Go do something with Ron... Look, here he comes now."

Ron came running up. "Kim! Guess what I have! Tickets to the concert of the year - Kristi Angie! Performing tonight at the Middleton Arena!"

"No way!" squealed Kim. "How did you get those?" She cut off any chance of his response with a crushing hug. Kristi Angie was the lead singer of a pop group that had come out of nowhere and skyrocketed up the charts, and stayed there. They had been the hottest band in pop music for two years. "Ron, you so rock!"

"Yeah, I know," he said with his goofy smile. "Hey, you want to go to Bueno Nacho? 3 for 1 chimerito day."

Kim happily agreed. Together the two teens left the room. About halfway down the hallway Ron exclaimed he had forgotten something, told Kim to hold Rufus and wait there. Then he dashed back to Shego's room. "Shego! Hey, thanks for the tickets."

"No problem, Ron."

"Are you sure you didn't want to go with Kim? Because you two could go and I-"

"Ron, I got them for you two. Kristi Angie isn't my type of music anyway. I thought you could use a special night, alright? Now go. Your girlfriend's waiting for you."

"Yeah, she is isn't she? Thanks again Shego!" Then he was gone. Shego sighed happily. It hadn't been easy to get those tickets during the small remainder of her lunch break. Of course, it would've been harder without Wade's help. She had broken into Kim's locker, (she still had those lock picking skills) and enlisted the boy's help. Well, it seemed her efforts were successful. She had also told Wade not to page Kim if anything came up. If something major that couldn't wait came up, he was to page Shego. However, she was betting it would be a pretty quiet night. Tonight was the villains' annual soda and cookie tasting festival (something she had never attended).

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWM

Shego stood outside the impressive Middleton Space Center. The white stone gleamed in the sun, and the sheer amount of walls and glass was slightly intimidating. Shego pushed her way through the doors, and went up to the desk. The lady sitting there was a pleasant, plain, brown-haired woman who seemed to be in her mid-30's. "Can I help you, honey?" she asked.

"Yes. I need to speak to Drew Lipsky."

"Ah, Dr. Possible's friend. He's very nice... are you two seeing each other?" she asked politely.

"No, we're not," said Shego smiling sweetly, "We're just old friends, you see, I worked for him for awhile." the lady nodded politely. "Can I talk to him?" Shego asked, still smiling. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a voice whispered that her old self would be retching by now, but she didn't care.

"Of course. Just let me page him... Oh, looks like I won't have to. Here he is now." She pointed to an area somewhere over Shego's left shoulder. Shego thanked the lady, whose now-visible name tag identified her as Lynda, and walked over to Drak... Drew.

" Hi Drew."

"Shego! How are you? Still holding up at Fort Possible?"

"Mm-hmm. The tweebs are the cutest things. A few days ago I helped them make these contact lenses that can shoot lasers. They're so clever. How are you doing? I had figured that Global Justice would block you from this job."

"Ah, well you see, the kind folks at GJ as we like to call it, did some psych testing, and based on Dr. Possible's warm endorsement, I was allowed a ground level job. Nothing high up and top secret, but I get to fix things, and I do love fixing things."

"That's great Dr. D... you don't mind if I call you that, do you?"

"Of course not Shego. Now, I have to go help Dr. Every. Maybe you could stop by later today? You could try my new PBC cookie recipe. I created it myself."

"That's great Dr. D. I have to do some apartment hunting. How about I stop by afterwards?

"That'd be great Shego." And so they parted.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWM

Three hours later and Shego had found an apartment worth considering. The problem had been that Middleton, even downtown Middleton, was a high-end, mostly white suburban neighborhood. This meant the obstacle in her search for housing was not that the apartments were dumps or low-quality; it was that they were high-quality, and, quite frankly, they charged more than the apartment was worth. She was on a low-end teacher's budget; after all she was young, brand new to the area, hadn't taught previously, and was only full-time subbing for the moment. She still had so many things she needed. She didn't have many clothes; the "shopping sprees" she and Kim had gone on had mostly been Shego pointing at things, and helping Kim pick out things. And she certainly didn't have much else. She was currently living paycheck to paycheck, with most of her money going to food.

However this apartment was decent, came partially furnished, and she didn't have to pay through the nose for it. There was one problem. On the forms there was a question: Have you ever been convicted of a crime? Needless to say, the answer to the question was yes, not to mention that she was wanted in at least 11 countries, if not more. However, she had never been convicted as a thief. Although Wade would never admit it, he would always find the security footage he had of Shego erased. Drakken was, in fact, competent enough to do that; the boy never changed his protection of those clips. However, she had been charged for destruction of property and arson; apparently trying to take over the world wasn't illegal in most justice systems.

Shego sighed, and answered the question truthfully. She filled out the rest of the forms. She had brought cash with her, as she didn't yet have a checkbook or credit cards. Wade had pulled some money from some of the more legit accounts that she had scattered around the globe under various aliases, especially for this purpose. He had put the money in cash, because it's harder to trace cash than it is to trace electronic transactions, and as forgiving as GJ is (they were used to weird situations like the reverse polarizer), the American government is not. She handed over the paperwork and the money, biting her lower lip nervously.

However, the person only glanced at her when they came to the dreaded question. Looking like a cute, innocent, conservative/traditional dressing young adult who wouldn't so much as turn in a library book late was in Shego's favor. The process went faster than she expected, and before she knew it, they were handing her the keys as she stood outside the door of 314A. She opened the door and stepped inside.

Stepped into her _home_.

_Her_ home.

The person pointed out some things, went through the standard speech, and then left her, in her home. Gently she ran her hand over the countertops, then flopped onto a chair. Thank goodness it had come partially furnished. She didn't have a ton of money in her "legit" accounts, just enough for items related to the apartment. She could move in gradually; buy some furniture, some decorations, some food and other stuff... She had never had her own home before, not even a college dorm room. When she and her siblings were superheroes they had lived in Go Tower. Of course, that was owned and decorated by Hego. She hadn't cared that much, but she had barely been allowed to decorate her own room. Of course, some green plasma, and the reminder that she controlled the money, had helped to convince Hego otherwise.

After that had been living on the streets as a petty thief. There was no way you were owning a space living like that. After that had been hotel rooms, of which there was no question of owning or personalizing. In Drakken's lairs she had been given a bedroom, but their constant destruction had taught her not to expend the effort of decorating, and the rooms had never really been hers, no matter how possessively she had treated them. But now, this was hers, she owned it; she, and she alone. That the simple act of owning could cause such quiet but immense joy was astounding.

She sat there, quietly reveling in her new space, until the $3.50 wristwatch reminded her that it was time to go meet up with Drakken. She turned off the few lights, and took one last look around the room, before shutting the door, and locking it behind her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Note: Hey people! Sorry for the wait! School is over and I'm halfway through my exams, so maybe they'll start to come faster... maybe. ;) Anyway, here's the latest chapter. I know it's kind of boring, but I'm trying to use it as set up for things to come. Now, I have a proposition for y'all. The next scene is going to be mainly Shego's visit with Dr. D. Now, there are some major oppurtunities for humour here, since they've both turned all happy-lucky nicey-nice. I'm not good at humour. So I'm asking (more like begging) for your help. Send me a personal message with some ideas, snippets of conversations, or even a whole scene if you're so inclined. **_Please_** help me out here. And don't forget to leave reviews!

P.S. I'm changing my pen name to Ogehsim... can you figure out why:)


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